You answered our polls; now it’s our turn!
According to the poll 2 weeks before, ‘What is the ONE piece of knowledge you wish you had when you applied for your first job?’, there was a tie between the respondents who answered that negotiation is acceptable and how to answer in interviews, compared to necessities on their CV or resume or setting work boundaries.
And according to last week’s poll, ‘What is the ONE thing you wish you had more of at your current job?’, the majority of respondents answered healthy work-life balance, compared to an adequately paid salary or a friendly workplace environment.
So with that said, we’re going to delve into a slew of career tips - exploring how you can start building a solid foundation for newbies and how to continue to improve and grow professionally for long-time workers!
The Truth Behind Work Negotiation
According to Pedro Pinto, an executive and leadership coach on LinkedIn, ‘negotiation in a professional setting involves the art of arriving at mutually agreeable solutions, bridging the gap between parties with diverse interests and objectives.’
When used effectively, negotiation can empower you to articulate your needs, strengthen relationships, and contribute to a positive work environment. Negotiation can also help you to achieve win-win outcomes by communicating constructively and building trust. So not only is it entirely acceptable for newbies, interns, and anyone starting out in the workforce but it is also an essential and necessary skill to acquire to unlock new career growth opportunities.?
While negotiation is often used for salary adjustments and pay raise inquiries, it can also be used for other general matters such as mediating conflict, improving organisation, and managing time. Check out some useful tips for successful negotiation below:
Getting the Salary You Deserve
- Know Your Market Worth: Research salary levels using salary guides, news, and industry reports.
- Build Your Case: Document your work achievements, and demonstrate your commitment to new responsibilities.
- Be Fair and Realistic: Be open to alternative benefits if a salary increase isn't possible, and stay open-minded.
- Stay Professional: Remain assertive, not aggressive, and avoid pressuring your boss for an immediate response.
Additional Negotiation Tips
- Be Confident: Stay calm and collected, and remember - fair pay and due benefits are basic rights.
- Don’t Make It Personal: Approach the negotiation objectively, as if you’re representing a third party.
- Practice with Someone You Trust: Role-playing with a mentor or friend can help boost your confidence.
- Pick Your Battles: Focus on negotiating what truly matters to you, with a clear understanding of your worth.
- Keep Timing Focused: Set a specific meeting for discussion around your company’s schedule or without combining it with other ongoing matters.
- Master the Dance:
- Keep a Positive Attitude: Appreciate the time taken to consider your request, and continue preparing for future negotiations if the outcome isn't favourable.
How To Improve Your Interview Answers
The most asked questions HR staff, departments, and professionals receive - including Hyred! - are those about how to answer in interviews. In the following 4 sections below, we cover what questions in each section are often asked and more importantly, exactly how to answer them.
Most Common Interview Questions
- Where do you see yourself in 5 years time?: Impress your interviewer by considering your short-term and long-term goals. Discuss the kind of job you'd eventually like to do and the various steps you will take to get there. Relate this back to the position you’re interviewing for. Show that you have ambition and determination, but avoid telling the interviewer that you want their job.
- What are your strengths / weaknesses?: Choose 3 examples of traits the employer is looking for and give examples of how you have used them in a work situation. Include a mix of hard and soft skills. Similarly, identify flaws you wish to or are improving within yourself, and give examples of how you bounced back from obstacles they’ve caused in a work situation.
- Why should I / we hire you?: Promote yourself. Prepare 3 skills or capabilities you could bring to the role in terms of experience, personality and enthusiasm. Again, include a mix of hard and soft skills.
- Tell me about yourself / your work experience.: Know your CV well and deliver a 1-2 minute overview, highlighting key achievements. Start with your highest qualification, then briefly outline your job history. Keep it concise, letting the interviewer ask for more details if needed.
- Why do you want this job?: Do your research beforehand. Explain your interest in the organisation and the role. Observe how you would use the opportunity to progress. Share that you are pleased to have been asked to the interview.
- What are your salary expectations?: Don't mention salary unless prompted, but know your worth. Be flexible and open to negotiation, showing you value the position. Avoid pricing yourself out or underselling. If a salary range is provided, you can reference it as what you're seeking.
- Why do you think you’re the best person / right fit for this role?: Highlight relevant skills and experiences that align with the role. Prepare examples in advance, showcasing attributes that employers are looking for such as problem-solving, project and stakeholder management, technical knowledge, and meeting targets.
- Why are you seeking to leave your current job / looking for a new job?: The question assesses your motivations, how you obtain fulfilment from a role, and whether you fit the organisation's culture. Focusing on emphasising the new role’s opportunities rather than issues and grievances with your current role / employer.
- How would your friends describe you?: The question assesses your personal attributes and also, your suitability for the team environment. Ask a friend, mentor or trusted colleague for their input before the interview.
- Can you tell me about a time that you failed?: Provide an example or a past experience that demonstrates critical thinking and self-awareness about your performance as well as learning and growing from your mistakes.
- Are you interviewing with any other organisations?: Convey your interest in the role, but be truthful if you have already received another interview offer elsewhere. However, avoid listing the specific organisation and the number of other jobs applied for.
- Do you have any (other) questions?: Use this opportunity to ask about anything else that was not covered in the interview. This could range from work hours, company culture, workplace benefits, the employer’s expectations for you, and further inquiries about what the industry of the role you’re applying for is like.
Responding To ‘What Are Your Weaknesses?’
- Difficulty saying ‘no’: Taking on too much can lead to burnout. Many struggle to decline tasks out of a desire to be helpful, but this can hurt productivity. Employers value setting boundaries and managing your workload to avoid being overwhelmed and maintain high-quality work.
- Discomfort with ambiguity: Navigating uncertainty is difficult for those who prefer structure, but adaptability is crucial in today’s workplaces. Employers value candidates who stay effective in unclear situations and are actively working on becoming more adaptable and showing commitment to growth in dynamic environments.
- Perfectionism and over-focusing on details: Being detail-oriented is valuable, but perfectionism can slow progress and hinder deadlines. It's important to balance high standards with seeing the bigger picture. Employers value candidates who manage their perfectionism to maintain quality and efficiency.
- Discomfort taking risks: Being risk-averse can prevent mistakes but may limit opportunities. Employers value those willing to step outside their comfort zones when needed. Showing your readiness to grow in this area highlights your commitment to change and innovation.
- Hesitance to ask for help: Independence is a valuable trait, but knowing when to seek assistance is crucial for maintaining efficiency and delivering high-quality work. Acknowledging that you’re working on improving this demonstrates that you understand the importance of collaboration and leveraging the strengths of your team.
- Lacking confidence: This can limit idea-sharing in group settings, but recognizing and working on this shows commitment to growth. Addressing it demonstrates your willingness to improve and contribute effectively.
- Difficulty delegating: Struggling with delegation often stems from a strong sense of responsibility or a desire to control outcomes. While this can ensure high standards, it may also hinder team productivity and personal growth.
- Need for more experience in specific areas: Everyone has skills they’re working to improve. Acknowledging these areas and taking proactive steps to upskill yourself shows that you’re committed to growth and professional development.
Competency, Behavioural & Situational Questions
While these different types of interview questions may not come up as often as the more general ones, they often throw interviewees for a serious loop when they do. Competency questions assess a candidate's skills and knowledge to determine if they meet the job requirements. Behavioural questions reveal a candidate's motivations, work approach, and alignment with the organisation's values. Situational questions evaluate how a candidate would handle hypothetical scenarios relevant to the job role.
Competency questions look for previous demonstrable evidence of your technical skills as well as hard and soft skills. The interviewer can then determine if the level of your skills and know-how is appropriate for the job. Try to give well-rounded answers instead of generalities, use jargon relevant to the role, and elaborate upon your practical experiences when using a particular skill. Here’s some example questions below:
- Describe a time when you’ve led a team through a period of change.
- Tell me about a time when you used your creativity to solve a problem.
- Describe a time you’ve revealed meaningful insights from a large volume of data.
- On time pressured assignments, how have you made sure that the job is done within budget?
- Describe a time when you were required to use your analytical skills to make an informed decision.
On the other hand, there are no right or wrong answers to behavioural questions. You’re often recounting stories of how you did something and why, which will demonstrate your working style and personal attributes. This allows the interviewer to understand why you behave the way you do and if your working style fits with the organisation’s values and way of operating. Here’s some example questions below:
- Tell me about a time when you went above and beyond for a customer.
- Tell me about a time you knew you were right, but still had to follow guidelines.
- Talk me through a time when you had to work towards a challenging, ambitious objective.
- Give an example of when attention to detail was vital and how you completed the task accurately.
- Give an example of something you tried in your job that didn’t work. How did you learn from it?
- Give an example of a time when you have been part of a group working toward a specific goal. What was your role in the group?
- What is your typical way of dealing with conflict? Give me an example of when you have had to use this approach with a difficult customer.
- Describe something you have done that was new for your organisation that improved the performance of your team or the value of the work done.
Unlike the other two types of questions which use past real-life actions as an indicator of future behaviour, situational questions will ask you to explain how you think you might handle a certain situation in the future. The situations asked are tailored to the experiences of the role you’re applying for. Both general answers and further details are acceptable. Here’s some example questions below:
- You are faced with conflicting deadlines. What do you do?
- What would you do if a disgruntled customer approached you. How would you solve the matter?
- An important stakeholder asks you to move forward the deadline on a project. How do you proceed?
- You know that a colleague has made a mistake at work, but as far as you’re aware, only you have spotted it. What do you do?
- You need information from a co-worker to proceed with a time-sensitive task, but they are slow to respond. How do you proceed?
STAR Interview Technique
To make sure you say everything that needs to be said in the interview or to not get caught off guard by a question, master the STAR interview technique! This is a structured, 4-point approach utilising compelling storytelling strategies that enhance your past experiences and answer interview questions successfully.
- Situation: Begin by setting the context and providing the essential details of your example.
- Task: Outline your specific role and responsibilities in that scenario.
- Action: Describe the precise actions you took to address the situation.
- Result: Highlight the outcomes that resulted from your actions.
How To Improve Your Work-Life Balance
One of the most pressing issues in our global workforce today is burnout, physically and emotionally, due to imbalances between work and personal life. According to Hays, about 38% of employees struggle to switch off even when they have earned their time off of work. This indicates a lack of control, problems with work-life balance, taxing workloads, and long hours: all symptoms of job burnout.
Additionally, one of the first comprehensive and systematic reviews on job burnout reveals it is one of the sole predictors of chronic diseases and body conditions (heart disease, diabetes), severe psychological effects and disorders (insomnia, depression), serious occupational issues (absenteeism, job dissatisfaction), and increasing stress in general. Since healthcare costs have been increasing in several countries, some may also be unable to afford to take care of their own health when necessary.
In summary: the more burned out an employee is, the more likely they are and will continue to cease functioning properly, gradually resulting in poorer work performance. Although our global society is heavily work-focused and work-inclined, knowing when to take a well-deserved break is being able to work smart, and in the long-run, allows you to progress and work harder!
To achieve a better work-life balance and positively impact your career, follow these tips:
- Establish Clear Boundaries: Define and stick to your working hours, avoiding regular overtime.
- Prioritise and Delegate: Focus on critical tasks and delegate when possible to manage your workload effectively.
- Master Saying No: Recognize when you're at capacity and politely decline additional commitments to avoid stress.
- Allocate Personal Time: Set aside time for hobbies, exercise, or loved ones to enhance well-being and productivity.
- Embrace Breaks: Take short breaks and proper lunch breaks to recharge during the workday.
- Disconnect from Technology: Designate times to unplug from devices and focus on personal life.
- Communicate with Your Employer: Discuss workload concerns with your manager to find solutions for a balanced workload.
- Practice Self-Care: Prioritise physical and mental health through sleep, diet, and relaxation activities to maintain balance.
At Hyred, we understand the value that human talent can provide. We’re always seeking a diverse range of talented, passionate people who believe in the importance of progression and in helping others achieve their career goals too. If you’re interested in onboarding with us, visit our Homepage now to set up a free 30-minute consultation for more information! Or visit our Career page for our full list of open job positions in the SEA region!
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